Submitted July 2011 June 30, 2011 1. Vision Our Vision is for every individual to feel valued, and for all learners to reach their full potential. Mission.

ACHIEVEMENT CONTRACT

SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 42MAPLE RIDGE / PITT MEADOWS

Submitted July 2011

June 30, 2011 1

Vision

Our Vision is for every individual to feel valued, and for all learners to reach their full potential.

Mission

Our Mission is to fully support all individuals in their personal development as successful learners and respectful contributors to

society.

Core Values

Responsibility to all LearnersUniqueness of Each Individual

Personal and Social ResponsibilityHigh Expectations for Success

Culture, Community and CitizenshipDiverse Learning OpportunitiesJune 30, 2011 2

School District No. 42Vision, Mission and Core

Values

The Ministry of Education and School District 42 both share the focus on Literacy (K-12), Completion Rates, and Aboriginal Student Improvement.

The School District also has its own priorities in areas that we believe will assist all students in being more successful across all areas of learning

June 30, 2011 3

Achievement Contract Areas of Focus

June 30, 2011 4

This year in School District 42 we embarked upon a Community Forum to begin to answer the question of “What do we believe Education needs to look like into the future as we prepare students for the ever changing “flat” world they will be entering into. This gave us lots of information as to why we need to shift our thinking and our systems and structures to better align with what students will need.

Learning for Tomorrow

June 30, 2011 5

We will continue to focus on the Literacy and Grad initiatives in our Achievement Contracts etc. but will put much of our focus on engaging the learner and preparing students with the skills necessary to be successful once they leave our system.

Learning for Tomorrow (cont’d)

June 30, 2011 6

Play based learning Place based learning 21st Century skills Project Based Learning Inquiry Based Learning Personalized Learning Universal Design for Learning A shift from content driven to skill based

driven opportunities for learning Using technology to engage the learner

Our focus areas over the next several years will include:

Early Learning Early indicators for student success Student success for young Aboriginal Learners

Supporting Student Learning Grades 1 to 12 Education Using Technology to Engage the Learner• Learning Through Inquiry

Literacy• A Focus on Disaggregating the Data to Identify Cohorts Needing Intervention

Aboriginal Student Improvement

Secondary & Adult Education Grad Rates Grade to Grade Transition Rates Improving Student Learning for students with Learning

Disabilities and Behavior Challenges

June 30, 2011 7

A Focus on Student LearningTable of Contents 2010/2011

EARLY LEARNING

June 30, 2011 8

Early indicators for student success including young aboriginal learners

June 30, 2011

Early learning is the foundation of student engagement and success.

The educational focus in many of our classrooms has moved away from a focus on the “whole child”, play based programming and “developmentally appropriate activities”.

The introduction of full day kindergarten has required a comprehensive review and re-visioning of what an effective kindergarten program looks like.

9

Early Indicators for Student SuccessWhy did we choose this area of focus?

June 30, 2011

In 2009/2010 Kindergarten teachers identified (31%) students as being at risk in one or more areas of development.

Boys and students of aboriginal background are not as successful in the early years in school as we would like to see. Therefore in developing a more active, “hands on” program we are hoping to see both boys and students of aboriginal background having a more successful start to their school careers.

With the focus on 21st century skills, it is important to revisit what skills are going to equip our young learners with the tools they need for the future.

10

Why did we choose this area of focus? (cont’d)

June 30, 2011

In light of the need to continue to improve success for boys and aboriginal learners and to reflect the Ministry “full day” kindergarten mandate we have focused on:

◦ Developing a “play based”, “project oriented” kindergarten program

◦ Providing opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning in ways that support their learning styles

◦ Offering activities and interventions that build student skills and abilities particularly in the areas of fine motor, oral language and increasing attention/time on task.

11

What have we done so far this year?

June 30, 2011

Worked directly with kindergarten teachers to align their practice with the new kindergarten handbook and increase their knowledge of the importance of a “whole child”, “play based”, “developmentally appropriate’ programming.

Continued to use the District Kindergarten steering committee comprised of principals, kindergarten teachers, MRTA executive, aboriginal support teachers, and student support services staff to guide our full day kindergarten journey.

12

What have we done so far this year? (cont’d)

Developed an SD42 kindergarten/early learning website which provides comprehensive resources and links.

Worked with the district occupational therapy team to develop a physical development rubric so that teachers can more fully understand the early stages of physical development and more comprehensively program for student success.

June 30, 2011 13


June 30, 2011

Began dialogue around how to provide targeted and intensive support seamlessly into a kindergarten program in a systematic, structured and effective manner.

Began to include kindergarten and grade 1 teachers in dialogue, and discussion on how the district can support and enhance programming for early learners preschool to age 8 in SD42 to improve student success in all curricular and developmental areas.

14


June 30, 2011

2008/2009 Areas identified as most “at risk”

2009/2010 Areas identified as most “at risk”

2010/2011 Areas Identified as most “at risk”

Literacy 123/318 = 39%

Fine Motor 117/318 = 37%

Attention 111/318 = 35%

Oral Lang 107/318 = 34%

Attendance 105/318 = 33%

Fine Motor 101/302= 33%

Oral Lang 85/302 = 28%


Attention (circle) 80/302 =26%

Literacy (sounds) 79/302 =26%


Fine Motor 97/312 = 31%

Attention (circle) 93/312 = 30%

Oral Language 87/312 = 28%

Issues with peers 76/312 = 24%

15

What did we learn in?The areas that teachers identified as “at risk” changed in priority over 3 years.

Although 90% of kindergarten students are now meeting the curricular expectations in literacy by the end of kindergarten, from reviewing the data on the previous slide it appears that teachers are becoming more aware of the importance of focusing on the development of the “whole” child not just the academic side.

June 30, 2011 16

Analysis of what we learned from the previous chart

37 students in 2008/09, 47 students in 2009/10 and 77 students in 2010/11 who were only identified “at risk” due to being late or absent 20 days between September and May of the school year are included in row A above.

These students are removed from the data in row B to more accurately

reflect those students who are seen by their teachers to be “at risk” in a developmental/curricular area.

June 30, 2011 17

K students identified “at risk” by teachers

2008/09 2009/10 2010/11

A

% of K students reported by teacher to be at risk in 1 or more areas of development

33% 31% 33%

B

% of K students reported by teacher to be at risk in 1 or more areas (excluding students who only have attendance issues)

30% 26% 25%

The percentage of students absent or late 20 or more days between October and May has increased through the three years.

90% of boys and 95% of girls are meeting the

curricular expectations in literacy by the end of kindergarten.

Boys are 5 times more at risk in the area of fine motor and 3 times more at risk in the area of attention/self regulation than girls.

June 30, 2011 18

What did we learn?

positive connec-tions with peers

positive connec-tion with teacher

fine motor read-iness

oral language readiness

attends regu-larly

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Aboriginal student kindergarten data

2008 092009 102010 11

June 30, 2011 19

literacy letter names

literacy be-ginning sounds

numeracy 1:1 correspondence

numeracy pat-terning

attends to story attends to teacher led activ-

ity

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Aboriginal Kindergarten Student Data

2008 09

2009 10

2010 11

June 30, 2011 20

*2008/09 data not available for literacy, numeracy and attends to story due to changing the structure of the data collected

Positive increases in aboriginal student data has occurred in 7 out of 11 dimensions. In 2 areas percentages have been maintained from 2009/10. In only 2 areas have percentages dropped – literacy (letter sounds) and attendance (absent or late more than 20 times between September and May).

Although classroom teachers still identify aboriginal students, particularly boys, as being more at risk than non aboriginal students, the increases we are seeing are very positive, particularly in the areas of fine motor readiness, positive connection with the teacher and numeracy.

June 30, 2011 21

What are we proud to show with this early learning data?

Kindergarten students identified at risk in one or more curricular/developmental areas has reduced from 30% to 25% over three years.

% of students at risk in the areas of numeracy and positive connection with the teacher decreased for both boys and girls. This may be due to the “hands on” focus of the kindergarten program and the longer day.

June 30, 2011 22

What are we proud to show with this early learning data? (cont’d)

Anecdotal information from kindergarten teachers is indicating that the ‘play based’ kindergarten program is significantly increasing success for students, however the data that we are collecting does not seem to be reflecting this. In light of this and the focus on 21st century skills we need to revisit what data we are collecting and “count what counts”…

Need to look further into the attendance issues in particular we need to separate absences and lates.

Further analysis and discussion on whether there is a connection between absenteeism and student success.

June 30, 2011 23

What have we discovered we would like to change, alter or refocus on as a result of what we have found?

Supporting Student Learning Grades 1 -

12

June 30, 2011 24

June 30, 2011 25

Using Technology to Engage the Learner

Learning Through Inquiry

June 30, 2011 26

Results from previous years demonstrate clearly that the laptop program improves writing

Students today need an increasing array of ‘21st Century’ skills that enable them to meet new challenges, solve problems, and use the tools and technology of today and tomorrow

Inquiry and challenge-based learning combine the strengths of traditional learning with new directions that engage students and extend and deepen their learning

This project was designed to build on the strengths in improving writing, the strong capacity for supporting technology integration, and increasing research on the impact of inquiry and challenge

Why did you choose this area of focus?

June 30, 2011 27

Developing inquiry questions Planning Gathering and evaluating information Collaborating Reasoning Creativity and innovation Using technology tools Presenting information and ideas

21st Century Skills include:

June 30, 2011 28

2009-2010 was the first year of the 21st century skills project. Since then we have further refined the program.

A large focus has been developing and trying out assessment materials for:

developing inquiry plans processes of inquiry presentations of inquiry project results

Assessment materials follow the BC Performance Standards pattern of using clearly established criteria to describe student achievement in terms of expectations (not yet meeting; meeting at minimal to moderate level; fully meeting; exceeding).

Data from Spring 2010 become our baseline and we now have the 2011 data.

What have we done so far?

June 30, 2011 29

Teachers participating in the project systematically collect three types of data:◦ Written inquiry plans◦ Observation of inquiry processes students use◦ Digital presentations of inquiry results

Baseline data for written inquiry plans were collected in Fall 2009, before students were introduced to the inquiry approach and related 21st Century skills.

Data

June 30, 2011 30

As indicated on the following graph, almost all inquiry projects in 2011 met at least minimal to moderate expectations (92%)

Over half (52%) showed strong achievement, fully meeting or exceeding expectations

The average score was 2.5 (on a 4-pt scale) with a standard deviation of .7

Note: Results in the following graphs are based on presentations from 211 groups including over 600 grade 6-7 students.

Student Achievement: Completed Inquiries

June 30, 2011 31

Not yet meeting Meets minimum Fully Meets Exceeds0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

8%

40%42%

10%

Presenting an Inquiry: Overall Rating Spring 2011 (n=211)

June 30, 2011 32

When specific components of the presentations were assessed, the highest ratings were assigned to use of technology and appropriate content/subject matter vocabulary.

Nearly 2/3 groups showed strong achievement in terms of technology use and 1/6 demonstrated excellence in this aspect.

Note: Results in the following graphs are based on presentations from 211 groups including over 600 grade 6-7 students.

Student Achievement: Component Ratings

June 30, 2011 33

Overall Understanding Information Reasoning Technology Vocabulary Impact0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Presenting an Inquiry: Component Ratings Spring 2011

Not yet meetingMeets minimumFully MeetsExceeds

June 30, 2011 34

As shown in the following three graphs, the quality of inquiry presentations improved substantially from 2010 to 2011:◦ More groups achieved excellence in their

presentations (10% compared to 2%)◦ More groups fully met or exceeded expectations

(52% to 22%)◦ More groups met at least minimal expectations

(92% to 78%)◦ The average rating increased substantially from

2.0 to 2.5 on a four-point scale.

Comparisons Over Time: Presentations

June 30, 2011 35

In terms of specific components, groups showed the strongest improvement in “logical reasoning”, an area that many teachers targeted for special attention as scores had been relatively low in 2010.

Aspects with high scores in 2010 (vocabulary; use of technology) showed smaller increases (this is at least partly a ‘ceiling’ effect, as students had less room to improve.)

Comparisons Over Time: Presentations (cont’d)

June 30, 2011 36

Not Yet MeetingMeets Minimum

Fully MeetsExceeds

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Presenting an Inquiry: Overall Ratings 2010-2011

Spring 2010Spring 2011

June 30, 2011 37

Overall Understanding Information Reasoning Technology Vocabulary Impact0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Presenting an Inquiry: % Meeting/Exceeding Expectations 2010-2011

Spring 2010Spring 2011

June 30, 2011 38

Teachers commented both on the strengths of their own students and strengths they saw in the inquiry projects they assessed. They frequently mentioned: Increasing range of technology skills Creativity Growth in questioning; their ability to pick/shape

a topic that interests them Collaboration Ability to focus and work within a timeframe to

complete a project with relative independence

What are we proud to show with this data?

June 30, 2011 39

Understanding more about citing information sources, putting information into your own words, evaluating sources

Commitment and sense of empowerment about making a difference in their communities and world

Presentation skills Confidence Engagement and ability/willingness to use

feedback Beginning to see multiple perspectives

Teacher Feedback: Student Strengths

June 30, 2011 40

“I think that we are taking away some of the trauma and drama associated with trying to spell or write or do anything as fast as anybody else. Also it gives students an opportunity to present their work in various mediums: essay, PowerPoint, webpage, video, etc. I think it's great to see them overcome technological obstacles and feel proud of learning new and innovative techniques. I think they also find it great to be able to do things in a setting they admire.”

2011 SD42 Teacher Comment

June 30, 2011 41

Almost all students were able to engage effectively in a collaborative inquiry about a question they chose. They demonstrated at least minimum expectations for the set of skills and processes related to “21st Century Learning” through planning, executing, and presenting their inquiries.

In Year 2 of the inquiry-based program, an increasing number of students showed strong achievement by fully meeting or exceeding expectations for inquiry.

Conclusions

June 30, 2011 42

The project has also demonstrated that inquiry-based learning can flourish in a wide variety of contexts and with diverse groups of students. All students in the grade 6—8 project classrooms participate in this program, which in other times or places, might have been restricted to ‘enrichment’ for high achieving students.

This project continues to demonstrate the strong commitment and capability of SD42 teachers to engage sophisticated and complex forms of teaching and learning. The project teachers are a real and powerful learning community.

Conclusions (cont’d)

June 30, 2011 43

Increased support for teachers around some aspects of planning and executing the project

Increased opportunities for teachers to share strategies, issues, and samples of student work

Refined scoring and assessment processes Fine tune timelines for pre-plans, post plans

and project due dates.

What have you discovered you would like to change, alter or refocus on as a result of what you have found?

June 30, 2011

LiteracyA Focus on Disaggregating the Data to Identify Cohorts Needing Intervention

44

June 30, 2011

Literacy is a key area of competency that students must have in order to be successful after leaving our public school system

Too many of our students are “Minimally Meeting” and need to be guided into “Fully Meeting.”

We have an issue with our Literacy collection tool that we would like to revisit and revise

We feel and believe we are making progress in this area through different forms of 21st century literacy etc. but our Literacy results using the DART and the RAD tools are not supporting that

We have shown that will targeted intervention that is Literacy specific that we can impact student success so we would like to build on that

45

LiteracyWhy did we choose this area of focus?

June 30, 201146

Primary Elementary Literacy

What have we done so far?Reading Levels (PM Benchmarks: Comprehensive Reading

Assessment Resources for early primary students)

Data collected for the 2010-2011 Achievement Contract, indicated an decrease in our student’s performance with regards to early literacy. This change may be be due the increase in the sample size. We are also actively exploring why so many more grade 1 females are at risk.

We now have 5 years of trend data that allows us to better target intervention strategies like our Reading Racers summer program.

06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11 Grade 1 (Below 7 Reading)

13%

n=778

53 male 45 female

6 aboriginal

10.0% n=771

58 male 19 female

17 aboriginal

11%

n=838

70 male 24 female

10 aboriginal

10%

n=825

54 male 32 female

17 aboriginal

15%

n=918

79 male 62 female

16 aboriginal

Grade 2 (Below 17 Reading)

8%

n=775

38 male 22 female

9 aboriginal

9.0% n=832

49 male 25 female

3 aboriginal

11%

n=813

58 male 34 female

21 aboriginal

11%

n=884

60 male 40 female

11 aboriginal

14%

n=901

71 male 52 female

21 aboriginal

June 30, 2011

Reading Racer Summer Program Early literacy intervention is a strong focus for our school

district. Our elementary schools have established processes for monitoring the progress of our primary students and providing extra support for those who are struggling. This said, we still have students who require more assistance and who tend to lose literacy skills over the summer months. In order to address these issues, we have developed a highly successful summer literacy program for our Grade One students who are emergent readers.

Our two main goals are:◦ to increase students’ reading skills ◦ to boost their self-esteem, self-efficacy and motivation

47

Primary Elementary LiteracyWhat have we done so far? (cont’d)

June 30, 201148

Current Grade Average growth in reading levels over the summer

Average growth in reading levels from July to December

2 4.73 (9x’s school growth) 1.47 (0.37/ month)

Reading Racer December Data

2010 Summer Data

Primary Elementary Literacy

2010 summer data:

45 students participated in the Grade One English program51% of the students were boys and 49% were girls

Improvement in Grade One Student Reading Levels: - average gain of over 4 levels per student (9x their rate of progress over the previous 10 months in Grade

One).

June 30, 2011 49

What did we learn?

In our schools we are continuing to use literacy data boards to track our students’ progress and to ensure that people resources are assigned appropriately.

As a means of meeting some of our most at risk grade one students, we offer selected students the opportunity to attend 16 days of summer school with a focus on literacy.

We know that early intervention will be our key success story as we prepare students to move into Intermediate grades and High School. Early primary is the place to really target Literacy success.

June 30, 201150

Literacy Focus After Early PrimaryWhat have we done so far?

Worked with schools to create attainable objectives included in their School Growth Plans which address at risk students.

Professional Development focus for all teachers on meeting the needs for all students including SmartLearning workshops, learning rounds and make and takes focusing on oral language skills.

In 2010/11, we have teachers leaders from every secondary school, actively engaged in literacy with a district facilitator.

NB: The district is currently embarking on a review of our data collection process and consequently has reduced the scope of reported information.

June 30, 201151

LiteracyWhat have we done so far?

• Bookfest included over 700 students from both elementary and secondary schools.

• Continued Reading Racer summer school program for at risk Grade 1 students in literacy.

• District mark of the grade 3 and 6 DART along with the grade 8 RAD to examine the validity of our data (see supporting documents).

• Continued collaboration with the public library to provide comprehensive programming for children in the community.

June 30, 201152

LiteracyWhat have we done so far? (cont’d)

• The district saw an expansion of grade-wide, teacher-collaborative projects, in which explicit literacy instruction is embedded within course content.

• Every secondary school participated in a Fall and Spring reading assessment (RAD) for all grade eight students. Literacy skills were formatively assessed in the Fall, as school teams met and set goals. In turn, a district coding session was held in the spring for the summative assessment.

• Every elementary school participated in a Spring reading assessment (DART) for all grade Three and Six students. A district coding session was held in the spring for the summative assessment.

June 30, 201153

As a district we have been collecting DART and RAD data since June 2006. We are seeing a flat line of student success even with many Literacy focused initiatives

The grade Three, Six and Eight results have been consistent, with a

slightly lower number of students meeting expectations at their level.

The concern is the significant % of students who fall within the Minimally Meeting (MM) category.

A greater emphasis should be placed on the skills required for non-fiction reading/reading for information.

Our DART results this year are similar to those of previous years. Teachers who marked the DART felt that the four point rating scale was challenging.

LiteracyWhat did we learn?

June 30, 2011 54

Grade 3 DART 2010 - 2011

Exceeding

Expectations Meeting Expectations Minimally Meeting Not Yet MeetingTotal Student n=845 3% 43% 45% 9%Males n=470 4% 39% 47% 10%Females n=375 2% 47% 44% 7%Aboriginal n=55 5% 35% 56% 4%

Exceeding Expectations Meeting Expectations Minimally Meeting Not Yet Meeting0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Total Student n=845Males n=470Females n=375Aboriginal n=55

June 30, 2011 55

Grade 6 DART 2010 - 2011

Exceeding

Expectations Meeting Expectations Minimally Meeting Not Yet MeetingTotal Student n=968 5% 32% 54% 9%Males n=468 3% 27% 57% 13%Females n=500 6% 36% 52% 6%Aboriginal n=73 5% 21% 53% 21%

Exceeding Expectations Meeting Expectations Minimally Meeting Not Yet Meeting0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Total Student n=968Males n=468Females n=500Aboriginal n=73

56

Exceeding Expecta-tions

Meeting Expecta-tions

Minimally Meeting Not Yet Meeting

Total Students n=753

0.0411686586985391

0.258964143426295 0.622841965471449 0.0770252324037185

Males n=399 0.0275689223057644

0.185463659147871 0.679197994987469 0.107769423558897

Females n=354

0.0564971751412429

0.341807909604521 0.559322033898305 0.0423728813559327

Abed n=54 0.0555555555555555

0.111111111111111 0.703703703703704 0.129629629629628

5%

15%

25%

35%

45%

55%

65%

75%

Grade 8 RAD (2010 - 2011)

Through district support, some literacy teacher leaders have developed vast literacy experience, a great depth of knowledge, and strong capacity.

Anecdotally, we see noticeable improvements; however, over the years, a deeper understanding of the Performance Standards has resulted in raised expectations for student performance.

◦ “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be

counted.” - Albert Einstein Some schools have demonstrated great

improvements.

June 30, 2011 57


RAD and DART is an isolated event and, as a result, it is often not seen as a priority by schools.

We would like to increase the engagement levels of all teachers to help them better understand the expectation of the student.

We would like to further support teachers to better understand the intent of Performance Standards.

The scoring range within the minimally meeting expectation is wide and as a result many students land in this scale.

Supporting literacy and quality teacher training and in-service will impact the results. This along with a review of the collection tool and a possible shift to a focus on writing using performance standards should see some improvements over the next several years.

June 30, 2011 58


Aboriginal Student Improvement

June 30, 2011 59

A focus on academic support has not resulted in improved graduation rates for Aboriginal students.

SD42 Six Year Resident Completion Rate (%) as compared to Aboriginal Student completion rate (%)

June 30, 2011 60

Why did we choose this area of focus?

Year All Students Aboriginal Students

2005/06 78 61

2006/07 81 63

2007/08 82 64

2008/09 84 59

2009/10 84 63

Our Aboriginal students are doing fine if they reach grade 12 based on the Eligible to Grad rate (therefore, a key focus needs to be on getting them to grade 12).

SD42 Eligible to Grad Rate (%)

June 30, 2011 61


Year All Students Aboriginal Students

2005/06 94 91

2006/07 93 95

2007/08 95 92

2008/09 94 93

2009/10 96 94

Revisions to our existing Enhancement Agreement were necessary as the past two agreements focused only on academic outcomes with limited success.

A need to focus on graduation rate improvement at an earlier level (grade 6 to 9) as our grade 12s are doing fine.

A need to address student and family connectedness to our schools and school district.

A need to address students’ school to life transitions.

June 30, 2011 62


June 30, 2011 63

A concerted effort to increase the involvement and engagement of the entire aboriginal community as 96% are living off reserve across the entire Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows community.

A need for greater knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal students’ culture, history and learning needs by our district and department staff.

A need to recognize our large Metis population.


Signed and implemented our 3rd Aboriginal Enhancement Agreement with the added goal “To improve Aboriginal students’ sense of belonging”.

Focused on objectives beyond academic achievement to improve students’ sense of belonging through a better understanding of aboriginal history and culture by all.

Signed a revised and renewed Local Education Agreement between Katzie First Nation and SD 42 with an increased focus on collaborative planning and programming for Katzie student success.

Added (in September, 2010) a secondary Aboriginal Resource teacher to the Aboriginal Education Department to focus on grade 6 to 9 transitions and school to life transitions.

Added (in May, 2011) a second Aboriginal Child Care Worker to the Aboriginal Education Department to add to our focus on holistic student support, particularly at the grade 6 to 9 levels.

June 30, 2011 64

What have we done so far this year?

Continued to add to our community network of cultural presenters with a greater focus on Metis culture and knowledge due to the large number of Metis families in our community and recommendations from our Advisory.

Coordinated department professional development to build capacity (i.e. Metis beading workshop, moccasin making, medicine wheels, etc.)

Coordinated Professional Development for the District Student Support Services staff at the Katzie Band office and delivered by Katzie Chief, Council and Elders.

Hosted the 1st Aboriginal Education Community Forum with over 100 members representing our Aboriginal Community to establish a concerted community effort to improve Aboriginal students success and explore specific ways and means of achieving that goal.

June 30, 2011 65


Our aboriginal student numbers continue to increase with more and more families self-identifying their aboriginal ancestry. These numbers continue to rise while the enrollment in the district overall continues to decline

June 30, 2011 66

What did we learn?

Year Aboriginal Population

2006 – 2007 (Sept.) 935

2007 – 2008 (Sept.) 955

2008 – 2009 (Sept.) 988

2009 – 2010 (Sept.) 1015

2010 – 2011 (Sept.) 1009

2010 – 2011 (Feb.) 1050

The entire aboriginal community working with the entire school community is necessary to improve Aboriginal student success.

The 3rd Enhancement Agreement developed through the Aboriginal Advisory states a need for both academic goals as well and school connection goals through cultural awareness.

The 3rd Enhancement Agreement has meaning if it is given a voice and a plan.

The 1st Aboriginal Education Community Forum has given it both!

June 30, 2011 67

What did we learn? (cont’d)

The voice of the Aboriginal community tells us (based on info from the forum):◦ community involvement is a high priority◦ connections within the community and

connections between family and school are important and we should continue to build and nurture these connections.

◦ mentors are also a high priority for our students in learning and achieving success.

◦ a variety of learning strategies are necessary including differentiation, hands-on, technology and choice.

June 30, 2011 68

What did we learn? (cont’d)

A continued increase in Aboriginal student numbers over the past 5 years, from 936 in September, 2006 to 1050 in February, 2011.

An increased presence of aboriginal culture in our schools through student and project based experiential learning opportunities (e.g. 10 schools carving their own 14’ welcome pole, medicine wheels in most schools, school button blankets in all 7 secondary schools, etc.).

An increased demand for Aboriginal cultural content, information and presentations compatible with and in conjunction with relevant curricular content.

June 30, 2011 69


June 30, 2011 70

Over 100 representatives from across the entire Aboriginal Community attended the 1st Aboriginal Education Forum in February, 2011 and, along with our 3rd Enhancement Agreement, have given us a common direction for the future.

Led by our Aboriginal Education Department, over 600 students, family members, and school district staff gathered together to celebrate the success of our grade 8 through 12 Aboriginal youth. This was the 4th Annual Aboriginal Achievement Awards hosted within School District #42.

What are we proud to show with this data? (cont’d)

Maintain and continue to build upon what we have been doing well.

Improve graduation rates. Improve successful school to life transition. Improve grade to grade transition rates. Continue to work collaboratively with all of our

partners in learning to achieve the goals of the Enhancement Agreement concurrently with the goals of the Achievement Contract.

June 30, 2011 71


SECONDARY EDUCATION‣ Grad Rates‣ Grade to Grade Transition Rates‣ Improving Students Learning for Students with Learning Disabilities and Behaviour Challenges

June 30, 2011 72

Our graduation rates and our grade to grade transitions were not to the standard we would expect. Given our fundamental belief and mandate to support all learners for life beyond secondary school, we endeavor to provide every opportunity we can for all students. In following this we enroll many students (in the age range of 16 to 18) who have little or no chance to graduate after 6 years. Considering this fact, we expect that our 6 year resident graduation rate percentage should range between 83 and 90%.

June 30, 2011 73

Improving Grad Rates and Grade to Grade transitionWhy did we choose this area of focus?

June 30, 2011 74

With respect to grade to grade transition, our grade 10 and 11 percentages should be more in range with the numbers we see from grade 9 to 10. We would expect all of our grade to grade transition percentages to vary from 97% in the early secondary grades and approaching 90% at the grade 11 level.

Data allows for more meaningful conversations between teachers across the District. We are encouraging teachers to engage in conversations about student learning and having data (we provide them with course by course completion data) to guide the conversation helps.

Improving Grad Rates and Grade to Grade transitionWhy did we choose this area of focus? (cont’d)

We have declared 6 year grad rate improvements as one of our top priorities, and as such, this becomes an agenda item at every Principals meeting.

We have established interventions at each school to deal with every student who demonstrates a need.

Attendance, as one of the primary indicators of success, is reviewed daily at our schools. A team of staff members is assigned to overview attendance data and provide interventions when students have been identified as absent from school. June 30, 2011 75


Provided educational choice for students allowing them to engage in meaningful learning. Our Trade programs, Partnership programs, and Academies would be examples of these innovations.

We have begun to track students at each of our secondary schools with respect to success rates (students scoring above 50% as their school based mark) by course.

This school based mark information is shared throughout the district and part of agenda meetings at each school.

June 30, 2011 76

What have we done so far? (cont’d)

Rate (%) 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10

All Students 78 81 82 84 84

Female 82 87 87 85 87

Male 74 75 77 82 80

Aboriginal (included in figures above)

61 63 64 59 63

June 30, 2011 77

What did we learn about our grad rates?The following chart indicates our progress with respect to the six year graduation rate. As noted, improvements are indicated each year in many important areas. This data also allows us to specifically target areas where we are not improving. These numbers are for residents only as per ministry information.

Count of Successful Students 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10

All Students 877 846 938 1032 1055

Female 454 438 484 502 557

Male 423 408 454 530 498

Aboriginal (included in figures above)

50 59 65 58 76

Across this District, based on the increasing percentage of resident 6 year graduates, the initiatives we have implemented are working.

The improving success rate of our students in our core academic subjects, grades 8 through 10 is encouraging.

The more we emphasize engaging all learners in the classroom, the better our results.

June 30, 2011 78

What did we learn about our grad rates?

June 30, 2011 79

◦ Our results are improving as seen in the following grade to grade transition chart.

◦ When you place a focus on grade to grade transition, allow for discussion, and show school by school data, the level of importance improves, resulting in a strategic focus on improvement for students.

◦ The improvements in grade 10 and 11 are representative of the work being done across our district, particularly by our teacher leaders who have accepted the importance and value of classroom instruction and assessment.

What did we learn about our Grade to Grade Transition

80

2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10

Grade 8 Students (%) 96 96 96 94 97

Grade 9 Students (%) 96 94 95 95 96

Grade 10 Students (%) 82 82 86 88 93

Grade 11 Students (%) 77 79 82 78 83

62.5

67.5

72.5

77.5

82.5

87.5

92.5

97.5

What did we learn about our Grade to Grade tran-sitions?

Per

cent

ages

We are achieving better results in both grad rates and grade to grade transitions.

More students are graduating and achieving success throughout their education.

We have built some momentum and now can look to other initiatives that will further improve our results.

June 30, 2011 81


The percentage of resident males graduating after 6 years requires further investigation.◦ While we have implemented programs of choice,

the academic requirements seems to lag behind.

We need to conduct a closer and more intense analysis of our data as the cohorts of students increases and transitions through our system.

June 30, 2011 82


Improving Student Learning for students

with Learning Disabilities

June 30, 2011 83

June 30, 2011

District graduation rates for students with learning disabilities declined 8% from 2004-2005 to 2007-2008.

Graduation rates for students with learning disabilities from across Canada are still extremely low (approx 23% nationally 5 year and 59% provincially 6 year) and places this demographic at high risk for school failure.

84


Secondary schools were provided with .5 targeted staffing and 32 days of TOC release time to assist schools in creating effective supports for students with Learning Disabilities.

◦ Administrators and teachers were able to share successes and challenges in using this time to support best practice and increase student success in their schools

June 30, 2011 85

Secondary School FocusWhat have we done so far this year?

Increase Use of Assistive Technology District Wide:

Student Support Services (SSS) was able to issue another 30 laptops to students with a designated Learning Disability.

SSS facilitators offered teacher training assistive technology at professional development days and to school staff.

Created a district wide text to speech server (Kurzweil) and supported training in Accessible Resource Centre – British Columbia (ARC-BC)

District was selected as pilot for the Lexia program offering a computer based support to support reading instruction based on the Orton Gillingham Method. The pilot consisted of 1 secondary and three elementary schools.

June 30, 2011 86


June 30, 2011

Quantitative:

LD Six Year Graduation Rate for Dogwood 2003-2009 – Showing an improvement from the last 3 years.

Qualitative: Anecdotal comments taken from district

interviews of secondary school students with a learning disability. Indicating: Strategies, Challenges and Support Systems

87

Student Learning Data that we used:

June 30, 2011

LD Graduation Rate2004-2010

88

2004 - 2005 2005 - 2006 2006 - 2007 2007 - 2008 2008 - 2009 2009 - 20100

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

77

60

54 52

68 67

60 62 61 59 59 61

SD 42 Provincial

% o

f st

ud

en

ts

gra

du

ati

ng

6 year District Graduation rates for students with learning disabilities has held with just a decrease of one percentage point. Affirming that last year’s increase was not an anomaly. This continues to be above provincial averages for LD students

That in-service, staffing and tools being put into place are resulting in positive results for students and are in-line with feedback retained from students regarding the importance of teachers and access to technology in helping them to succeed in their core subjects

June 30, 2011 89


As expressed last year we have been able to sustain our increase and we hope by continuing to fine tune LD initiatives in place we will find we continue to maintain or increase our LD graduation rates

From our student data we want to continue to target the majority of our efforts on working with teachers and assistive technology

June 30, 2011 90


Improving Student Learning for students with

Behaviour Challenges

June 30, 2011 91

June 30, 2011

Six year district graduation rates for students with Behavioural Disabilities declined slightly in 2007/08 to 35%.

While the grad rates for students with a behavioural disability was still higher in SD42 than compared to the provincial average, the results are far lower than the average 6 year graduation rate as compared to the general student population indicating that this remains to be our most at-risk student demographic.

A continued focus on effective interventions are needed if we are to see an increase of success for this population.

92


Capacity Building

SSS staff have worked with elementary and secondary schools to build capacity while supporting them in writing and implementing positive behaviour support plans.

Secondary behaviour teachers have been released to meet, network and discuss best practice for meeting the needs of students with behaviour challenges.

Schools received .5 targeted funding and 32 days TOC release time to assist school based initiatives to support students with behavioural challenges and encourage best practice.

June 30, 2011 93


Supporting District Implementation of School-Wide Positive Discipline Models.

SSS has worked with two more elementary schools to support the implementation of School-Wide Positive Discipline Models and has begun work with one secondary school to implement PBS in one area of school programming

SSS school psychologists provided secondary schools counselors with a School Refusal Protocol to put in place as a universal support for non-attenders

June 30, 2011 94

What have we done so far? (cont’d)

June 30, 2011

Behavioural Disabilities: Six Year

Graduation Rate2004-2010

95

2004 - 2005 2005 - 2006 2006 - 2007 2007 - 2008 2008 - 2009 2009 - 20100

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

SD 42Provincial

We were very excited to see the significant increase in the six year graduation rate for students with challenging behaviours. We had an 11% increase to 49% which is also significantly above the provincial graduation rate of 36%

This may be a result of the district focus on educational options and choice for students with behavioural difficulties, targeted staffing at the secondary level and development and in-service of positive behavioural supports at both an individual, classroom and school level together with a district wide emphasis on student engagement

June 30, 2011 96


Continue to focus on supporting schools with individual, classroom and school wide positive behaviour support planning

Strengthen capacity of school based teams to provide first level interventions for behaviour

Increase educational options such as the introduction of a Day Treatment Program to support students with mental health issues

June 30, 2011 97


ACHIEVEMENT CONTRACT SCHOOL DISTRICT #42

MAPLE RIDGE / PITT MEADOWS

Summary

June 30, 2011 98

June 30, 2011 99

Although there are many more areas of focus being addressed in SD42, we have chosen to focus on a few areas that we have determined to be extremely important at this time. We continue to monitor and intervene on numeracy skills and have also set a pathway to determine along with literacy and numeracy, which skills will be most important for student success as they enter a world very different from the one in the past.

Summary

June 30, 2011 100

We are committed to a “students first” vision which will determine the areas of focus for the future. There is a commitment to excellence in this district that allows students who attend school here to benefit from that commitment.

We are proud of our students and proud of our staff whether they work directly with students or behind the scenes to allow us all to offer our best. Thank you to all who participated in bringing our achievement contract to life.

Summary (cont’d)

The District Achievement Contract was approved by the Board of Education at its public meeting on June 28, 2011 Board Meeting.

June 30, 2011 101

Board of Education Approval

Submitted July 2011 June 30, 2011 1. Vision Our Vision is for every individual to feel valued, and for all learners to reach their full potential. Mission.

Documents

learner learning

areas of learning

learning inquiry

student learning grades

learning disabilities

successful learners

young aboriginal learners

school district